Some important information that gets dropped by Hijikata’s group regarding Noppera-Bo to add on to the fact he is not a Japanese Ainu. Noppera-Bo killed his allies, but given the marks on their items, it was basically to illustrate he was repentant. With the fact he wanted to fight the Japanese with the gold, why break his companions? Clearly he must have had a reason for killing them for the gold. Essentially the issue had to do with Far East Russia and not with Japan. Add that to Asirpa’s flashback; it feels like him wanting Asirpa to lead the Ainu is genuine. It is just not the Japanese Ainu that she was born with. Regardless of this, Sugimoto’s group also gets hints of another tattoo in Yubari.
Learning about Tanigaki’s backstory is quite heartbreaking because it raises the question at times, What was I truly fighting for?. He bonded with a man by the name of Kenkichi, who later became his brother-in-law. Though Tanigaki learned that Kenkichi killed his sister. Of course, Tanigaki went off for revenge despite his parents objections, and that decision killed his mother. Which led him to join the 7th division, and he learned that Kenkichi was in this battle from a man who looked like a younger Sugimoto.
Though of course once Kenkichi was dying, he learned news he wasn’t expecting. His sister had smallpox, and at that point that infection was deadly. Her request to her husband was to kill her and let him find his own purpose. Of course killing her spared her from suffering. Kenkichi loved his wife, and he was in as much misery as Tanigaki. Of course, if these two had communicated, things could have been different, but of course, who knows if Kenkichi had received smallpox from his wife, so it would be cruel to take that chance to infect the rest of her family. Though you have to feel for Tanigaki, not knowing Kenkichi and his sister’s actual intentions led him on a path of revenge that came up empty. At the very least, the least he can do is save Asirpa. Though the fact Inkarmat has connections to Tsurumi is troubling.
Tsurumi running into Edogai caused an interesting chain of events because it is through Edogai that the potential of creating fake skin tattoos comes in. At this point the tattoo skins are very trustworthy, but if that trust is gone, that could cause setbacks. Then being able to detect fakes creates a huge advantage for Tsurumi’s side. Of course Edogai had mental issues dealing with his family, and Tsurumi being able to aid him was what won him over. Tsurumi knows how to play people like pawns but also value them accordingly.
We get a chance where Hajime tries to protect Edogai from Ogata & Sugimoto. Which results in Edogai dying, but he can give the tattoo skins, real and fake, to Hajime. He gives Hajime the hint of iron and the hint to be careful if this gets wet. The question is if the fakes get wet and you touch iron, that is how you can detect the fact. Now this leaves both Sugimoto’s and Hijikata’s groups in an interesting position. They know these fakes exist, but how do they detect those fakes? It brings up the question, will these two groups cooperate?